Chaser member signs on for Balls of Steel

The Chaser’s Craig Reucassel has signed on to host a local version of the hit British comedy format Balls of Steel to premiere on THE COMEDY CHANNEL next year.

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The 10-part series, which starts filming in Sydney and Melbourne in mid-October, will be produced by Southern Star Entertainment’s Courtney Gibson.

“I’m looking forward to hosting Balls of Steel,” Reucassel says. “Having other people making fools of themselves will be a great change.”

One of the highest ever rating programs for THE COMEDY CHANNEL, the anarchic Balls of Steel format sees guest comedians and comedy characters performing stupid, dangerous and ill-advised stunts in an attempt to impress a studio audience and lay claim to the title of having the biggest “balls of steel” for the week.

Reucassel will be joined in each episode by four or five guest comedians who will talk through the antics they have performed that week before the audience is shown a recording of their stunts.

At the end of each episode, the audience uses their keypads to vote for the winner of the “Balls of Steel” trophy.

“We are thrilled to have Craig on board and look forward to producing a fantastic Australian version of Balls of Steel,” says THE COMEDY CHANNEL manager Alex Ristevski.

Reucassel is best known as a founding member of The Chaser, which began in 1999 as a fortnightly satirical newspaper produced out of a bedroom.

The Chaser went on to become a runaway Australian TV success story, making headlines around the world with breathtaking stunts, including flying a blimp over The Vatican and breaching security at Sydney’s APEC Summit when one of its team entered an exclusion zone dressed as Osama bin Laden.

THE COMEDY CHANNEL is currently testing other talent to join the ensemble cast.

Resident characters in the UK series include the stunning “Bunny Boiler”, who flirts outrageously with men in front of their angry girlfriends and the “naturist” reporter who attends traditional country events to spruik the value of nudity.

“Some of the hilarious characters from the UK series are likely to make an appearance but we also will be creating new local characters that should resonate well with Australian audiences,” Ristevski says.